Show Grand Total
at Top

There's no setting that allows you to display the grand total at
the top of an Excel pivot table. However, with the technique in this
tutorial you can use another field that acts as the grand total, and
display it at the top.

This short video shows the steps for creating a grand total at the
top of the pivot table, and the written instructions are below the
video..

Create the fake "Grand Total" field

In the source data, add a column with the heading GT, or use a
space character as the column heading. Note: If your source data is in a named
Excel table, you cannot enter a formula in the heading row.
If you are not using a named table, use a formula to create a blank
space, as shown in the screen shot below: =" "

In every row of the source data, for the GT field, enter: Grand
Total, or leave the column blank, except for the heading.

Refresh the pivot table, and add the grand total field, as the
first field in the Row area

Change the Field Settings

After you add the Grand Total (GT) field, change its settings so
the amounts show at the top.

In Excel 2007 and Excel 2010:

Select a cell in the pivot table, and in the Excel Ribbon, under
PivotTable Tools, click the Design tab.

Click Report Layout, and select Compact Form or Outline Form.
(In Tabular Form, subtotals are only shown at the bottom.)

Click Subtotals, and click Show all Subtotals at Top of Group

In Excel 2003:

In the pivot table, right-click on the GT field button, and click
Field Settings

Click the Layout button, and click Show Items in Outline Form.
(In Tabular Form, subtotals are only shown at the bottom.)

Add a check mark to Display Subtotals at Top of Group

Click OK, twice.

Hide the original Grand Total

With the new Grand Total at the top, you can turn off the default
grand total at the bottom.

In Excel 2007 and Excel 2010:

Select a cell in the pivot table, and in the Excel Ribbon, under
PivotTable Tools, click the Design tab.

Click Grand Totals, and click On for Rows Only

In Excel 2003:

Right-click on a cell in the Pivot Table, and click Table Options

Remove the check mark for Grand Totals for Columns

Click OK

Show Grand Totals at Left

There's no setting that allows you to display the grand total at
the left side of an Excel pivot table, before all the other totals.
However, you could use the following workaround, if you:

use Slicers to filter the pivot table

do not need to change the pivot table layout after setting it
up.

In this technique, you'll create another copy of the pivot table,
then hide columns in both pivot tables, so simulate grand totals at
the left of the data.

To set up the grand totals at the left:

Add Slicers to the pivot table, to filter the fields that you
want filtered.

Add a few columns to the left of the existing pivot table (enough
columns for all the row fields and grand totals)

Copy the existing pivot table, and paste it onto a blank sheet

In the copy, remove any column fields, and leave just the row
fields and grand totals.

Move the copy to the pivot table sheet, to the left of the current
pivot table.

In the current pivot table, remove the Grand totals, and hde
the column with the Row items.

Leave one very narrow blank column between the two pivot tables,
and hide or delete any other blank columns.

Then, when you filter with a Slicer, both pivot tables will change,
and you will see the grand totals at the left.

Show Multiple Grand Totals

In a pivot table, you can show multiple subtotals per field, but
there's no setting that allows you to show multiple grand totals in
a pivot table. As a workaround, you can use another field that acts
as the grand total, and display multiple Grand Totals, such as the
Sum and Average overall.

To create this workaround, follow the steps below, to:

add a new field to the source data,

put it into the pivot table, and

remove the existing Grand Total.

Add a "Grand Total" field

In this example, the source data is a formatted
Excel table, on another sheet in the pivot table's workbook.

In the source data, insert a new column, and change the column
heading to "Grand Total"

Leave the column blank, except for the heading.

Refresh the pivot table, so the new field appears in the Field
List

Add the Grand Total field to the pivot table, as the first field
in the Row area.

The field label shows "(blank)", so select the label
cell, and type a space character.

Show Subtotals for New Field

In the pivot table, right-click on the new field's label cell,
and click Subtotal "Grand Totals"

To show the subtotals at the bottom of the pivot table, click
the Design tab on the Ribbon.

Then, click the Subtotals button, and click Show all Subtotals
at Bottom of Group

Select Multiple Functions

In the pivot table, right-click on the new field's label cell,
and click Field Settings

Under Subtotals, click Custom, and then select the summary functions
that you want for the multiple subtotals, e.g. Sum and Average.

Click OK

Hide the original Grand Total

Right-click on the Grand Total label cell at the bottom of the
Pivot Table

Click Remove Grand Total

Video: Show Multiple Grand Totals

Use a workaround to show multiple grand totals in a pivot table.
Watch this video to see the steps, and written instructions are above.

Headings - One Value Field

If there is only one Value field, the default heading is Grand Total, for both the Row and Column Grand Total headings.

Headings - Multiple Value Fields

If there are multiple Value fields, a Values button appears in the Pivot Table Field List, and a Values heading is added to the pivot table.

If the Values button is in the Columns area, the column grand total headings are shown as Total [Field Name]. In the pivot table shown below, the grand totals for the Columns are Total Qty and Total Orders.

The area without the Values button shows the normal "Grand Total" heading. In the pivot table shown below, Row area still shows Grand Total.

Change the Grand Total Headings

To change the Row or Column "Grand Total" text, follow these steps:

Select either of the Grand Total heading cells

Then, to change the text:

Type a new heading, to replace the existing heading

OR Press F2, then edit in the text in the cell

OR Click in the Formula bar, and edit the text there

NOTE: You can't double-click the cell to edit the text.

The other Grand Total will automatically change, and will show the same text as the heading that you edited.

Cannot Change Total Field Headings

If the grand total heading is a "Total Field" heading, instead of "Grand Total", you won't be able to change the text.

If you try to edit a Total Field heading, an slightly misleading error message will appear: "Cannot edit subtotal, block total, or grand total names."

Despite the warning in that error message, you can still edit the "Grand Total" heading in that pivot table, if there is one.

In the pivot table shown below, the Row grand total can be changed, without any warning message. That change does not affect the Column grand totals.

Download the Sample Files

1. For the Grand Totals at the Top tutorial, download the zipped sample file in xlsx file format. The file does not contain macros. The sample file is also available in Excel 2003 format (xls).

2. For the Multiple Grand Totals tutorial, download the zipped sample file in xlsx file format. The file does not contain macros.

3. To follow the Grand Total Headings tutorial, download the zipped sample file, in xlsx format. The file does not contain macros.